Until Tomorrow
by emeraldblossom34
Summary: Marinette and Adrien were best friends as children. But when Adrien has to move to Paris, they don't see each other again for 14 years. When fate brings them together again, will they remember each other? (Childhood AU, no Kwami)


**Childhood** **AU Story (no kwami)! May be continued. Enjoy :)**

She raced through the fields, hair flying, lungs heaving, skirt flowing. Her hand skimmed the tops of the wildflowers that swayed in the gentle breeze. Marinette's face was hurting from how wide she was smiling, but she couldn't stop and honestly couldn't find it in herself to care. She slowed down to catch her breath, crouching to the earth.

A ladybug lazily glided through the air and landed upon her finger. Entranced, Marinette stared at the small insect on her hand, standing up slowly. Her lips quirked into a soft smile.

The ladybug took off. Intrigued, Marinette's eyes locked upon the flying creature and she tried to follow, but only ended up tripping over a stone and falling.

Footsteps. Two feet in small green sneakers graced her vision. A soft pressure was placed on her arms as she felt herself being helped up.

The boy cleared his throat. "Are you alright?"

Marinette nodded once, giving him a glance before looking down.

"I'm always tripping," she said softly. She looked up to his green eyes and squirmed under his grin.

"You seem pretty lucky, Ladybug."

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to make fun of me?"

His eyes widened in panic. "No! No, I was saying you're lucky even though you trip because—"

Marinette's small hands clenched into fists. "You don't have to shove it in my face." With a decisive "Hmph!", she shoved past the startled boy and walked in the direction of home as fast as her short legs could carry her.

"I wasn't trying to—" Adrien called to her.

She walked away at a brisker pace, refusing to look back.

The boy's posture seemed to droop as the girl left him in the darkening meadow. His emerald eyes shone sadly, and with a dejected sigh, he trudged home. So much for trying to make a new friend. Why was he so awful at this?

-ML-

"Hi, Maman!" Marinette greeted cheerfully. "Hi, papa!"

Tom came from the kitchen and picked up her small frame, spinning her around until she giggled uncontrollably.

Sabine rolled her eyes. "Come Marinette, dinner is in the kitchen."

As Marinette ate, she couldn't help but dwell on the blonde boy who had helped her. Her eyes moved downward as she slowly played with her food. He did seem like a nice person...though she had never given him a chance to explain himself. Sighing, she leaned her head against a propped-up arm.

He really was a nice boy, and pretty too. Her cheeks grew rosy, so she shook her head before continuing to eat.

Ladybug was a cute nickname.

-ML-ML-ML-

He ran into his mother's arms and clung to her leg. With a startled laugh, she scooped him up and carried him into their quaint home.

"How was the meadow, darling?" his mother asked. She leaned back into his favorite chair in the living room. Placing him on her lap, she reached for the book on the table besides them.

Adrien twisted his fingers. "...I tried making a friend today, Maman."

"And?"

"She doesn't like me." Adrien sighed. He had never made many friends, since his parents shifted from home to home often. His mother was a model in Paris, and so they were saving up to purchase a place in the big city and finally move from the countryside. She would be closer to her work, and Adrien's father could get the big break he needed as a budding designer. However, all of his parents' aspirations had caused him to not establish connections with other children. He just didn't seem to click with the kids he had met before, and it didn't help that he was a shy six-year-old.

His mother smiled before wrapping her arms around him.

"Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream," she recited softly.

Adrien twisted so he could look up at his mother's face. His eyebrows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

A brief chuckle startled Adrien, who looked up at the man approaching them with a crooked smile. He ruffled Adrien's hair before shooting a teasing grin at his wife. "Citing proverbs at the boy, dear?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. Gabriel only snorted before continuing to sketch on the cream-colored paper pad in his hands, returning to a state of concentration as he walked away.

Adrien only looked more confused.

The woman smiled. "It means, Adrien, that you can always try again tomorrow." She opened the colorful book and began to read to him, yet Adrien only had one thought on his mind.

He was going to be friends with Ladybug.

-ML-ML-ML-

"Don't forget your umbrella, Adrien! It might rain," his mother bid him farewell with a wink.

He grinned. "Thanks, Maman!" She leaned against the doorframe and gave him a wave, to which he waved enthusiastically back before running to the meadow, umbrella handle held tightly in his chubby fingers.

He hoped she would be back.

As he reached the fields, his jogging slowed to a walk. He tapped the tip of his small umbrella against the dirt as he scanned the fields, squinting.

There she was.

Adrien faltered in his walk, shoes kicking the dirt, before remembering his mother's words. With determination, he walked towards the girl.

The sky rumbled with a threat of rain, but Adrien kept going. The girl was sitting on the ground, playing with a wildflower, when she looked up to the sky to feel the first drops fall on her face. With an audible gasp of surprise, she stood, ready to head home.

"Wait!" he shouted.

She looked up sharply to meet the boy's gaze. It was him. She knew that she should give him a chance, but she crossed her arms and gave him a steely glare for good measure.

He stared at her scrunched-up nose and sparkling eyes. "H-Hey."

She continued to stare at him. He wilted under her gaze a bit, but both looked up when the rain started falling heavily.

Adrien opened his umbrella and stood under it, looking at her now-blank expression.

"I'm sorry if you think I was being mean. I wasn't trying to, I swear! I…"

"Yes?" she inquired. Her eyes were curious, and her arms hung limply at her sides as she noticed his genuine expression.

"I don't have many friends. I'm not good at making them." He clenched at the umbrella handle before continuing. "Do you want to be friends?"

Marinette could only stare at the boy's rosy face, her eyes widening and mouth opening a fraction.

He held out his small umbrella to her, which she took awkwardly with a grin on her face. She let out a breathless giggle, which Adrien latched onto with hope.

Then, she gave him a grin that just floored him. Her eyes shone like jewels in the rain, and they teased his heart. Adrien's cheeks flamed. She was really pretty.

Suddenly, the umbrella closed on her, and Adrien couldn't help but laugh. She started laughing underneath the umbrella, which he helped her out of.

 _His laugh is_ gorgeous, she thought. Eyes widening, she clapped a hand to her mouth as if she had said it aloud. She gestured for him to come closer shyly. They shared a smile as they walked from the meadow, umbrella shielding them both.

A silly thought crossed her mind, which she couldn't help voicing. "If I'm Ladybug," she began, "Then, you should be Chat Noir. After all, good luck wouldn't be balanced with bad luck besides her."

Adrien shot her a cheeky grin. "What a great nickname, Ladybug." The elation building in his chest was almost too much for him to handle, but he let it wash over him. He had a nickname! Their shoes squished against the wet grass as they walked towards their small town. He snuck a glance at the girl.

More importantly, he had a friend.

-ML-ML-ML-

The sun seemed to smile happily on the children as they chased each other through the meadow. The summer passed by in a lazy haze of shared smiles, hidden blushes, innocent conversations. Their fingers picked wildflowers and twisted them into flower crowns.

Chat placed one on Ladybug's head. "Look Ladybug! Now you're a princess!"

She giggled, and placed her creation on his blonde locks. "Then you have to be my prince, dear Chat Noir." They burst into laughter.

Other days they would lay on the soft green earth, watching the cotton candy clouds swim in the blue sky. They pointed out shapes to each other, and more often than not, their hands would find each other as they looked at each other shyly before continuing the cloudsearch, hands held firmly between them.

Sometimes, they would have the best races to see who would reach Ladybug's house first so they could taste her Maman's cooking. Or they would just talk—calm conversations about anything and everything, whether it be awful jokes Chat learned from his father that Ladybug couldn't help but laugh at so hard her stomach would hurt or about the restaurant Ladybug's father worked in.

The bliss of the fairytale they had wouldn't last.

-ML-ML-ML-

"Adrien, we're leaving for Paris in two days. Your father finally secured the house there and we mustn't wait anymore," his mother told him one day when she tucked him in for bed.

With a soft kiss to his forehead, she turned off the lights before closing his bedroom door.

All Adrien could worry about was Ladybug. He had to tell her.

-ML-ML-ML-

The next day, Marinette looked out of her window wistfully. The rain was pouring so hard and the the lightning flashed like a camera in the sky. It was as if a photo shoot was taking place in the heavens, with how bright the light shone.

Her mother had refused to let her play in such terrible weather, and so they spent the day making confectionaries and reading stories by her bedroom window.

She wondered how Chat Noir was doing.

-ML-ML-ML-

Adrien couldn't believe it.

The truck was being loaded with the house's furniture. His father conversed with the truck driver while his mother instructed the movers on what to take.

Tied around Adrien's wrist was a red thread with an odd assembly of colored beads. A gift from his friend, his Ladybug. Fiddling with it, Adrien stood in front of his house, looking longingly at the meadow.

He couldn't remember where Ladybug lived, as he had gone there only once, and their town's houses looked similar. Panic growing in his heart, he ran inside his home to his mother.

"Maman—"

"Adrien, dear, I'm a bit busy at the moment," she said before guiding the movers and checking her list.

His mother had once said there was always a tomorrow. But not this time. Adrien couldn't wait for a tomorrow.

And so Adrien ran. He slipped out of the house and ran to the meadow. He had to see her one last time. He whipped his head around, desperately scanning the meadow. She was nowhere to be seen.

"Ladybug!" he shouted in vain. His only friend, the girl who made his heart a little bit faster, was nowhere.

"Lady—"

"Chat?" Ladybug rose from the field, brushing off her dress. She had been lying on the ground.

"What's the—"

He hugged her fiercely before looking at her puzzled face. "Ladybug, I need to say goodbye."

"W-What?" she choked.

A slight pressure built in his eyes. "My family is moving to Paris."

" _Paris_?" her voice shook.

His hands clenched on her shoulders in desperation. "I tried to tell you before, but yesterday with the rain, and my parents only said so a few days ago. I'm sorry."

Ladybug blinked. "You'll come back to visit, right?"

Adrien nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes of course! After all, you're my best friend."

She blushed. With a shy kiss to his cheek, she looked down as he stared at her in surprise.

"Until another day, Chat?"

"Adrien. My name is Adrien." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Everyone calls me Mari," Ladybug returned with a small smile.

His eyes softened. Such a pretty name.

"Adrien!" He turned around to see his mother approaching him. "I've been looking for you! It's time to go. Say goodbye, darling."

Adrien looked at Ladybug's face. Her bluebell eyes watched his emerald ones with sadness. He placed a featherlight kiss on her hand and looked up from his kneeling position. "Until another day, _Mari_." With a bittersweet smile, he took his mother's hand and she led him away.

-ML-ML-ML-

Marinette waited for him. And waited. But Adrien, who became swept up in grief over his mother's passing and his father's strict demeanor, never had the chance to return, not when Gabriel couldn't stand the memories of his beloved wife if they returned to the countryside town.

And so today's dream became the memories of the past.

 **A/N: Well,** **that ended sadly. Anyways! I intend this to be a multi chaptered story. Please let me know what you think of it. Reviews and feedback help me so** **much when writing!**


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